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Las Vegas shooting victims memorialized in portraits as first anniversary approaches

by in News

One person is pictured working at Disneyland. Another is shown wearing the jersey of a favorite NFL team. Still another is resting in the arms of her loving husband.

Lively personalities shine through exquisite facial detail in 58 portraits painted to honor victims of the nation’s worst mass shooting, 24 of whom were from Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. “They’re all gorgeous,” said Dawn McCoy of Redlands, who was a long-time friend of 34-year-old victim Hannah Ahlers. “Just gorgeous.”

The paintings and drawings were produced by the Las Vegas Portraits Project, a campaign that seeks to honor victims and comfort their families as the massacre’s one-year anniversary approaches. On Oct. 1, during the outdoor Route 91 Harvest country music festival, 58 people were killed and hundreds more people were hurt when a sniper opened fire from the 32nd floor of a Las Vegas hotel.

  • A portrait of Los Angeles resident Michelle Vo was created by Ryan Roxbury, of Dorr, Michigan.
    (Courtesy photo)

  • A portrait of Simi Valley resident Susan Smith was created by Margo Mam Thach, of Lowell, Massachusetts.

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  • A portrait of former Corona resident Christopher Roybal was created by Crystal Lina, of New South Wales, Australia.
    (Courtesy photo)

  • A portrait of La Verne resident Jordyn Rivera was created by Jennifer Beam, of Trexlertown, Pennsylvania.

  • A portrait of North Hollywood resident Melissa Ramirez was created by Julia Escobar Murphy, of Broomfield, Colorado.
    (Courtesy photo)

  • A portrait of Canyon Country resident John Phippen was created by Wanda Heffelfinger, of Marietta, Georgia.
    (Courtesy photo)

  • A portrait of Lomita resident Lisa Marie Patterson was created by Samantha Rosas, of Center Valley, Pennsylvania.
    (Courtesy photo)

  • A portrait of Lancaster resident Jennifer Parks was created by Elizabeth Londen, of O’Fallon, Missouri. She is pictured with her husband, Bobby, who was injured in the shooting.
    (Courtesy photo)

  • A portrait of Placentia resident Teresa Kimura was created by John Walsh of Allentown, Pennsylvania.
    (Courtesy photo)

  • A portrait of Aliso Viejo resident Victor Link was created by Cheri Homaee, of Richfield, Ohio.
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  • A portrait of Menifee resident Patricia Mestas was created by Lisa Ann Lay, of Rowlett, Texas.
    (Courtesy photo)

  • A portrait of Long Beach resident Rachael Parker was created by Michelle Cashatt, of Bellevue, Nebraska.
    (Courtesy photo)

  • A portrait of La Palma resident Brian Fraser was created by Litsa Raftopoulou, of Athens, Greece.
    (Courtesy photo)

  • A portrait of Grand Terrace resident Dana Gardner was created by Jessie Terry, of Easton, Pennsylvania.
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  • A portrait of Riverside resident Angela Gomez was created by Rita Martin, of The Colony, Texas.
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  • A portrait of Eastvale resident Rocio Rocha Guillen, who grew up in Anaheim, was created by Heather Bickford, of Petitcodiac East, New Brunswick, Canada.
    (Courtesy photo)

  • A portrait of Orange resident Andrea Castilla was created by Chelsea Clark of Woodbury Heights, New Jersey.
    (Courtesy photo)

  • A portrait of Riverside resident Austin Davis was created by Agnes Robin, of Terrasse Vaudreuil, Quebec, Canada.
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  • A portrait of Corona resident Thomas Day, Jr. was created by Mark Gaffney, of Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
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  • A portrait of Torrance resident Christiana Duarte was created by Kortney Struempf, of Marietta, Georgia.
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  • A portrait of Beaumont resident Hannah Ahlers, who grew up in Redlands, was created by Andy Gill, of Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.
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  • A portrait of Riverside resident Carrie Barnette, who previously lived in Garden Grove, was created by Courtney Reed, of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania.
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  • A portrait of Garden Grove resident Candice Bowers was created by Cheryl Metzger, of Felicity, Ohio.
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  • A portrait of Redondo Beach resident Sandra Casey was created by Elizabeth Purcell, of Clemson, South Carolina.
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The portraits are as different as the 58 different artists who produced them. Ellen Abramo, a teacher, mom and artist from Nazareth, Pennsylvania, who teamed up with cousin, Kortney Struempf, to direct the project, said a different artist was selected to do each one.

The artists drew in oils, acrylics, watercolor, charcoal, pencil and digital art, Abramo said. She said many consulted the victims’ families. Many chose victims they personally identified with.

The portraits will be on display in a month-long exhibit at the Clark County Government Center in downtown Las Vegas, scheduled to run Sept. 17 through Oct. 19. After that, Abramo said, the portraits will be packaged and shipped to victims’ families.

“We hope this will touch people, through knowing that someone nearby or halfway around the world was thinking of them,” she said.

Abramo said the artists are from as far away as South Africa, Peru and Greece.

“There’s no reimbursement,” Abramo said. “We made it very clear from the beginning that all materials and time and shipping costs would be on the artist to cover. Everything was strictly on a volunteer basis. The whole point was, we just wanted it to be a gift to the family.”

McCoy said she was pleased with the portrait of Ahlers, who lived in Beaumont and left behind a husband and three children.

“It will make her mom proud,” she said. “It represents her well. Her mom has the same big smile.”

McCoy termed the timing of the unveiling excellent.

“Their families will feel heard, they will feel acknowledged, that their loved ones haven’t been forgotten,” she said. “It’s so fitting.”

Vicki Jeffries also is pleased with the result. Her niece, 40-year-old Candice Bowers of Garden Grove, was one of those killed.

Jeffries said the Bowers portrait accurately portrays her bubbly personality.

“I’ve seen a picture of it,” said Jeffries. “I think they did a beautiful job. … She was almost always smiling. It fits her perfectly.”

Jeffries and other family members plan to travel to Las Vegas near the exhibition’s end and take the portrait home. They are thrilled that artists decided to tackle such a project.

“I think the whole idea of it was just absolutely wonderful,” Jeffries said.

Dixie Roybal is the widow of Christopher Roybal, 28, who had lived in Colorado Springs most recently and previously lived in Corona. The Corona community held a procession for the Navy veteran when his body was brought home several days after the massacre.

Dixie Roybal said in an email she is grateful Christopher is being honored.

“It’s truly an amazing picture,” she said.

Ditto for the portrait of Rachael Parker, the 33-year-old Long Beach woman who worked as a records technician for the Manhattan Beach Police Department, said Kristie Colombo, a department community affairs officer.

“It looks just like her,” Colombo said. “It’s amazing.”

If she had one wish, Colombo said it would be for Parker to have a broader smile in the portrait. She said Parker smiled all the time.

Parker often was the first person people saw when they visited the police station.

“She was kind of like the face of the department,” Colombo said. “She worked at the front desk.”

As for the project organizers, Abramo said she and her cousin had previously painted portraits for a similar project that honored the 49 victims of the June 2016 nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida.

“We had just finished our portraits for that,” she said.

Abramo said they checked to see if a similar project was planned for the Las Vegas shooting. When they learned no project had been started, they decided to head one up.

Abramo said she had just lost her father in August of last year.

“I was still grieving,” she said. “And I had just been to a country music concert the month before with my two daughters.” That was last September in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Abramo said her heart went out to the victims’ families.

“What runs through your mind is, ‘What if that would have happened to us?’” she said. “All these people were just out celebrating. Celebrating birthdays and anniversaries. Celebrating good music.”

Mourners grieve victims killed in October at the Route 91 Harvest festival at a memorial of crosses in Las Vegas.

IF YOU GO

What: Las Vegas Portraits Project

When: Sept. 17-Oct. 19, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday

Where: Clark County Government Center, 500 Grand Central Parkway, Las Vegas

HELP FOR SURVIVORS

Who: Contact the Vegas Strong Resiliency Center

What: It’s a one-stop resource and referral center

How: Visit vegasstrongrc.org or call toll free 833-299-2433